24 thoughts on “AC F2004 League – Brazilian GP”

That was absorbing rather than frenetic, but I’ve had my fair of action so it was fun to have a different sort of race. Just a few tenths a lap shy of keeping in range of Jan. My cunning long stint then short fill on 26 to get the overcut was stymied when the bloody car was filled way more than I set it for. Didn’t cost me more than a couple of seconds, so wouldn’t have made a difference.

I joined this league to get away from the madness of online multiplayer, but it seems that is very much the norm here.

I’ve lost count the number of times I have been tagged and hit in this league (literally every single race since I started here) making my races pointless, between the first lap and a half of this race and about the same of the last, I have been hit something like 7 or 8 times ( I would expect that over 2-3 races not 2-3 laps!!) practically wrecking my races and also been totally wiped out in the practice starts, where is the race craft? To spend hours training for a race just for it to end on the first laps (Once Again!) is not worth it.

It happens so many times, when I’m racing someone wheel to wheel approaching a corner (this week wasn’t just a corner) they race so hard into the corner, miss their braking point, miss the apex, and end up colliding, where’s the strategy behind the overtake? You can’t just wildly lunge down the inside as if your racing the AI!! Even the speed and angle of entry into the corner (on my inside) is so acute that the angle of exit means a collision is guaranteed. Against the AI you can get away with that kind of racing, very late lunge up the inside, brake really late practically blocking the track and disregarding the apex, stick the nose of the car in front and the AI back out and give you the place, but the reason people join leagues is to get away from that predictability.

Practice race starts leave me wondering, is this actually practicing for a F1 race or demolishion derby? Surely people have put effort into practising their starts before the event because all I ever see is cars flying off track, then with regard to nobody but themselves just rejoining the track regardless of who is actually on that piece of tarmac at the time. What’s the point if you don’t really feel that making T2 unscathed is a possibility.

I agree with your sentiments 100% and the “rush for corner 1” does get me down a lot, especially after the number of times in the past that I have preached coast-and-lift – I even felt myself sucked into this at Mexico. I too was tagged twice on lap 1 yesterday just “minding my own business” and had a horrible car until I came in for repairs.

HOWEVER, there are two sides to any coin and I am NOT judging you to blame for any of your last 3 big incidents (2 are still open to stewards anyway, so I can’t) BUT there are some people who would say you didn’t leave a lot of room.

Please at least look at these to see the different POSSIBLE viewpoint – it doesn’t detract from the fact that we have two many “torpedos” though :)

T1 is a problem, so hopefully a bit of debate will help the mindset for the next race. I try to look on a bad T1 as an opportunity to fight through the field, think positive!

In fighting during the race there is a general desperation and a pickup race mentality. People hate giving room and hate being overtaken. I quite like being overtaken (if it’s a clean pass) as it’s someone to pass back.

Previous incident, again, clearly enough room on the inside but car remains in the middle of the track. If you look at the tyre marks you will see the trajectory the car will take through the corner. With almost a car and a half’s space on the inside plus an open apex with no obstacle.https://www.dropbox.com/s/olbxohn3g78n61f/20171116124206_1.jpg?dl=0

Sorry your comment didn’t appear straight away, I think with all those links it was flagged.

I haven’t seen any race action recently so I can’t really comment on any of these incidents. I just hope that your bad luck will even out over time, that was always my experience.

Maybe some are getting too gung-ho on the brakes – not that getting braking points right is easy in F1 cars, though, especially at the start. I will talk with Bobby about whether we have patterns bad driving that we can address.

But I can say one thing: “nothing in mirrors” is a rather feeble excuse. If the combination of your camera view and the car model means you can’t see much in the mirrors, then you ought to (a) turn on the virtual mirror or use a look back button, and (b) install Helicorsa as recommended so that you know where cars are around you. Otherwise I fear you might take some blame for poor positioning of your car relative to others.

Amereto: Your not fair dude! Dropbox file 5. You cut your team mate in turn 3(after the straight) making me crash almost into your car. I only could pass you on the right, over the curbs. I just made it and you decide to hit the gas and push me off the track on the same corner/straight. You should have gone to the left after I nearly hit you and had to pass you on the right. It’s a nice panorama screenshot:) but there I had already spun off the track because you didn’t leave me any room before. I had to go far over the white line and because off it my back spun out because my rear right wheels where over the curbs. I was beside you, just nearly at the end but you should have giving me far more space. I will go even further: You just had an accident with Olivier so you should be extra careful when going onto the track and not trying at all cost to not let me pass. I was with almost four wheels over the line and on the curbs and over and your back was still beside me at the end. That’s why I spun!! Please take a look at your own driving behavior. I try to leave always room for others and if I see someone is a sec. faster than me per lap I will let him pass. And if I have an accident, I will let cars pass if it’s not save to enter the track. But it’s always the other one fault eh?! Also understand that some people don’t drive with triple screens, so it’s some times very hard to see where the other is. And I use Helicorse but that doesn’t works always. So I always leave lot of room if I am not sure.

I totally agree with the “desperation and pick up race mentality”. If a position is lost there seems to be an incessant need to regain the position back before the next corner, regardless to the fact there’s still another 30 odd laps or 300 plus corners still awaiting, although not every corner is or has to be an overtaking opportunity. I personally think the mindset should be a) I don’t want to hit my opponent and b) I need to get around this corner as quick as possible, when those priorities are reversed problems may arise.

I sent some pictures to show in all cases I left room for my opponent, I was involved in an incident previously where I was in the middle of the track and my opponent on my inside, I got tagged approaching the corner and was told maybe I didn’t leave him enough room, these previous incidents I moved to the outer edge of the track to give room, my opponent now moves to the middle of the track and I get told, maybe I didn’t give him enough room! Maybe there’s a way to get a virtual Costa at the track so I could just pull over for a coffee while the racing’s going on. Ha! Ha!

I wouldn’t really say nothing in my mirrors is an excuse or justification but a simple reply to Bobbys suggestion of perspective.

This is not my main league so I come here for the fun factor(?), like minded blokes enjoying their hobby. I drive in this league with a lot of noise, by that I mean ffb is high, transducers are high, volume is high and I’m…. Well anyway!! Sometimes triples, sometimes Oculus, I could strip all that back, aim for a bit higher up the grid and maybe try challenge for podiums, but all I want is an immersive night of fun racing. Serious enough to have to put the practice in, but not too serious where hours need to be spent with Motec, In other leagues I’ve had plenty of fun fighting for P8 or P9 and come away thinking this is the exact reason I spend so much time and obscene amounts of money on this hobby, and also left me feeling more rewarded than bumping my way through to a podium.

I totally agree with Rhobium. If you drive while ignoring when another car is next or very close of you, It is clear you will be most of the time implicated in touches/incidents. Simracing is also taking car of others even if not always easy. For your info my first 5 laps in Brazil were a total nightmare as I was fast and couldn’t always avoid or receive touches.

I can appreciate what your saying but to quote, driving while ignoring other drivers will implicate you in touches/incidents, and then to say your first 5 laps had touches/incidents, highlights my point, I was not next to you for 5 laps so I don’t think this about me having Helicorsa installed or not, I think we could ALL do more to make the racing more enjoyable, I assume you have Helicorsa installed but still suffered 5 laps of probably avoidable contact.

The reason I think this is more about race craft and racing etiquette is because even if I did have Helicorsa installed I would just edge a little bit more to the right of a left hand turn to avoid contact on approach which just means my opponent will edge a bit more right to get a better angle at the turn, I would!!

As an example of race craft and etiquette, on one of the practice starts I was right behind a Red Bull I think, coming out of T5 heading up to T6, I was so close to his rear wing I could read the fitting instructions on the monkey seat attached to the back of his car, now under normal racing conditions I could have pulled out of his slip stream and challenged him into T6, but realistically that wasn’t going to end well for both of us heading into a fast corner, I would be under steering towards the outside of the track and he will be on the outside turning in to the apex carrying speed into T7 because it’s a double right hander, I’ve driven the corner enough times to know how my opponent will approach it, I’m respecting him enough to not treat him like an AI and expect him to slow down and let me through just because I have 2cm of my front wing ahead of him, if it was a medium to slow corner I would have challenged him on the brakes going in no doubt.

Now my point being when are these decisions being made? Are they right at the apex when by all sense and purpose it’s too late now, brakes are locked and the inevitable happens, or 300 meters from the turn I’ve already decided if I pull out I’m not going to get clean in front of him to be able to control his speed through the turn, so now I’m already thinking about inside T8, inside T11, or as close as possible for T13 for the drag up the hill. Like I said previously, not every corner is or has to be an overtaking opportunity.

With respect to taking care of others, I treat one and all the same, from aliens to newbies, we’re all part of the same community, we were all newbies once, and when I grow up I want to be as quick as an alien, (Joke, I’m in the 40+ bracket, but I want to be as quick as alien though!!)

I can’t get HC to work on triple screen (or just problem with my PC) – and the app with guy who shouts out “car on yer’ left”, “clear on yer left” doesn’t seem to work either – but TBH, with triple screen, I rarely don’t know if someones’ there or not.

@Amereto So we are both in the 40+ bracket and still fast I think. ;) If you want my honest point of view. When a driver behind another is using HC and the driver in front is not (but the one behind OR next is assuming the one in front OR next is using it (LOL), then I think the one behind dares a little bit more. Reason why I strongly suggest to use HC or car radar. This would give more chance between 2 cars to avoid each other. That would have prevent me with touching other drivers during my first stint. ;)
This is just my opinion of course…

Hence if I still suffered 5 laps of probably avoidable contact with helicorsa installed, it is because I assumed the others have it installed too. :D
In previous leagues I ran (ACRL, PRL), hc was compulsary and there were really less contact during challenging overtaking.
At the end of the day, it is always left to the league admins appreciation. ;)

As I said (and Amereto) – they don’t work for me. I am hopeful that I can find a good mirror FoV which covers more angle with my discovery above – well its new to me. If I get it right, might even be able to see DRS wing opening with SF70H.

Discord Chat

bobbydeacs: Yes, that is what I meant though i didn't make it clear, so 17psi cold usually gets you close to 26 hot depending on track/downforce/air/track temperature etc. I tend to take the view that if you're running on say ultras and the running psi is close to 26, but the temps are say 5 degs too high then you're probably 1 compound out and should try the supers rather than increase the pressures. If you were running 10 degs high, then you're probably 2 compounds out so it would then be softs etc. Not saying I'm right though, maybe it is better sometimes to simply try to get the temps down. BTW the hypers tend to overheat on most tracks a bit, but I've found them spot-on at places like Singapore.

Rhobium: 26 psi being the hot pressure, I assume, which gets quite a bit higher than what you set in the garage

bobbydeacs: perfectly normal to have them slightly different. However, with modern F1 cars in particular it's a balancing act. You also want the tyres close to 26psi with this car - too low or too high psi loses grip. The problem is that if you increase psi to get the temps down, you also lose some tyre footprint - hence there isnt a huge advantage normally.

pensionisti: Is it normal to put the LF tyre at 18 psi and the RF at 16, i don't find other way to keep them in temp on ultras ?

pensionisti: yeah but my top speed 325 while yours 346. not sure why but i feel a torque loss after the 6th gear. like it's not accelerating in same speed and loosing power. Anyway have to get used to the grip of the car to carry more speed on corners

Church: i had 11-5 for now

pensionisti: i think it;s enogh to pass carousel flat out

pensionisti: so it should've been much higher speed

pensionisti: i am on 9-4

bobbydeacs: what aero are you using I think I had 15-7

pensionisti: ok thank you will do some tests as seeing these graph it dosn't look i have set it properly and i can't put it on 8 th gear at all https://imgur.com/a/CzzHOBt

bobbydeacs: That said, if you don't run it down between stops then you are wasting energy. Should aim for it to be quite low at end of stint.

bobbydeacs: The green bar, if its running down each lap you are using a bit too much

pensionisti: my question was more basic, as i don't know where to look at, and set the delivery option. like if i set the recovery to 50% and set to motor how do i see if it is enough for the lap or for the race or if it is consuming too much or it's not using it at all. anyway will check online how to set it up, looks more easy. Thank you

bobbydeacs: If you have it set to motor, it works - end of. What I think you are noticing here is I've changed the car to have more mid range power and less top end power. This will reduce top speed. Maybe I overdid it a fraction, but I think the speeds are more accurate now.

pensionisti: If it affects acceleration it affects top speed as well. I just dont know how to check if it worked and how to set it up properly.

Michel Ney: i did a 2019 car CFD analysis with the model i've been making for assetto corsa